-letsuffix

Appended to nouns. The oldest words in English with this ending are adoptions of Old French words formed by adding the diminutive suffix -et, -ete (see -et suffix¹) to nouns with the ending -el, in some cases representing the Latin diminutive suffix -ellum, -ellam, and in others the Latin ending -āle of neuter adjectives (see -al suffix¹). Examples are bracelet, chaplet, crosslet, forcelet, frontlet, gauntlet, hamlet, mantelet. It is somewhat difficult to see how these words gave rise to the English use of -let as a diminutive suffix, as none of them, exc. the heraldic crosslet, have the appearance of being diminutives of English words; possibly French diminutives like enfantelet, femmelette, osselet, tartelette, were directly imitated by some English writers. An early diminutive in -let is armlet (sense 2, ‘little arm of the sea’, recorded 1538); others are ringlet (Shakespeare), kinglet (Florio 1603, after French roitelet). The formation did not become common until the 18th cent.; from the first half of the century we have streamlet (Thomson), from near the end of it, cloudlet, leaflet. In the 19th cent. the number of derivatives formed with the suffix is very great; among those recorded in this Dictionary are booklet, brooklet, courtlet, crownlet, dukelet, hooklet, jokelet, keylet; and in the formation of nonce-words -let is now perhaps the most frequent of diminutive endings.In addition to its diminutive force, the suffix is in a few words (anklet, armlet, leglet, necklet, wristlet) appended to nouns denoting parts of the body, forming names for articles of ornament or attire. The oldest word of this type, armlet, was perhaps suggested by a false analysis of frontlet (cf., however, Old French armillet); in the formation, or at least the use, of the later words the analogy of bracelet has probably been chiefly operative.